Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano cut the ribbon reopening West Shore Road in Mill Neck on Monday, June 10, 2013.

West Shore Road in Mill Neck, which was badly damaged by Superstorm Sandy more than seven months ago, reopened this week—three weeks ahead of schedule—officials announced Monday.

While both lanes of the roadway overlooking Oyster Bay Harbor will be open, there will be lane closures for short periods of time to finish the $9.2-million reconstruction project. None of the remaining work will occur on weekends.

“The rebuilding of the West Shore Road seawall and roadway is symbolic of Nassau County moving forward and rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy,” said Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano declared at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the road.

Sandy had caused large part of the seawall and the roadway to collapse after the Oct. 29 superstorm.

Bayville Mayor Douglas Watson praised the efforts of the construction workers in speeding up the process to reopen the main route to his village. Mangano said crews worked extended hours six days a week.

“The impact for the local business community is dramatic. I couldn’t be more grateful,” Matthew Silver, the chief operating officer of the Crescent Beach Club in Bayville, said of the opening of this major road that connects Bayville to Oyster Bay.

Drivers previously had to take a 10 to 20 minute detour to get to Bayville.

The last of the lane closings should over by Forth of July weekend, when officials originally expected the road to reopen.

From left: County Clerk candidate Lauren Gillen, former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi and former Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman, all Democrats, on Tuesday, May 21, 2013.

It’s looking more and more likely that Nassau County voters will have a familiar feeling when they read the candidates names to choose from on election ballots at the polls this fall.

Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs endorsed Tuesday former County Comptroller Howard Weitzman after Legis. Wayne Wink (D-Roslyn) bowed out to spare the party a primary in that race—one of two local Democratic primaries Jacobs is trying to avoid.

“As Yogi Bera would say, ‘This is déjà vu all over again,’” Weitzman told reporters at a news conference in Mineola, vowing to unseat Republican Comptroller George Maragos, who won Weitzman’s job nearly four years ago. “I’m really looking forward to running again on a ticket with Tom Suozzi.”

Suozzi, the former Democratic county executive seeking his job back from Republican Ed Mangano, who unseated him in 2009, endorsed Weitzman, saying: “I know he can do it because he’s done it.”

Together with Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, the top of the Democratic ticket may be mostly the same as it was four years ago.

The one clearly new name is Lauren Gillen, a Rockville Centre-based attorney who’s the Democratic candidate running against County Clerk Maureen O’Connell, a Republican who won her job in 2005.

The wild card is Adam Haber, a Roslyn school board member and businessman challenging Suozzi to a primary on the Democratic line in the race against Mangano because he believes it will take an outsider to clean up the county.

Mangano, Maragos and O’Connell are each running for re-election on the GOP line. A Republican challenger to Rice has yet to emerge.

“My overriding goal has always been to have a unified ticket…a primary would be an unnecessary use of resources,” Jacobs said. “We ought to be focused on the Mangano administration.”

Wink, a county legislator representing the 11th district, had decided not to run for his current job after his seat was merged into the district represented by Legis. Judi Bosworth (D-Great Neck) last year. Jacobs alluded to another office Wink may be nominated to run for at the upcoming party convention.

“If there is one that I’ve learned first hand,” Wink said, “the Mangano administration really ran this county into the ground.”

Maragos didn’t waste any time firing back at Weitzman, who repeatedly compared Mangano and Maragos to Suozzi’s Republican predecessor Tom Gulotta, who led the county into near bankruptcy at the turn of the millennium.

“The residents will now have a clear choice between Weitzman, who left the county nearly bankrupt with a $250 million deficit, and Comptroller Maragos who has restored fiscal stability to the county resulting in three years without a property tax increase,” Jostyn Hernandez, Maragos’ spokesman, said in an email.

The entrance of the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant on Tuesday, May 14, 2013.

Nassau County officials took nearly 100 residents on a tour Tuesday of the embattled Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant to explain why such a stench is emanating from temporary post-Superstorm Sandy repairs.

Officials said they’ve gotten a head start on their plans for a $1.2 billion project to upgrade the plant and harden it against for future storms—nearly half of which would fund extending the outflow pipe from Reynolds Channel into the Atlantic Ocean. But a completion date won’t be clear until New York State and federal funds start flowing.

“Clearly, the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant has not been a good neighbor,” County Executive Ed Mangano told reporters and residents during a news conference at the facility. “Although operating, it is fragile.”

The apology tour came less than a week after the plant spilled 3 million gallons of partially treated sewage into the waterway—a spill the county blamed on a power outage at the plant—and two weeks after an environmental watchdog ranked Bay Park’s more than 2 billion gallons of Sandy spill the worst in New York State.

Parts of the Bay Park facility had been flooded with more than 9 feet of saltwater in the storm surge. The plant is still running on backup generators more than six months after its four engines were knocked out in the Oct. 29 storm. Temporary digester tanks that have been contributing to worse-than-usual smells in the area are scheduled to be moved.

“I’m hearing a lot of crap,” said Cynthia O’Rourke, a makeup artist and mother of two who took the tour with her 2-year-old daughter to find out why they still can’t return home since her family’s Oceanside home was flooded with sewage in Sandy. “Nobody’s taking responsibility for 20 years of mismanagement.”

The rickety state of Bay Park and its sister plant, Cedar Creek, had been the subject of a Press investigative series. The county later committed millions to repair the plant before Sandy hit and knocked it offline for more than a month, causing pipes to burst and sewage to flood some homes before pressure could be released on the plant.

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to help get Nassau its sewage plant repair funds.

“This is a basic human necessity; this is not a luxury item,” she said. “Societies have lived and died based on their sewage systems.”

Assemb. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) echoed concerns that the sewage spills into Reynolds Channel impacts fishing, swimming, the air and groundwater.

“There was no containing anything that was coming out of here,” he said of the Bay Park’s failure during Sandy. “This is an emergency situation that has to be addressed.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces LIPA proposal on Monday, May 13.

The Long Island Power Authority could be hit with a severe power downgrade if New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo gets his way.

The governor laid out a proposal Monday that would shift the embattled utility company’s day-to-day operation to PSEG, the New Jersey-based company slated to replace National Grid next year, and would freeze rates for three years, slash LIPA’s staff considerably and reduce LIPA’s debt load.

Essentially, LIPA would become a holding company, but would remain under government ownership for tax purposes and to ensure reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the governor said.

“Simply put, LIPA is broken,” Cuomo said at the afternoon briefing.

The governor’s long-awaited announcement regarding the utility’s future comes more than six months after Superstorm Sandy pummeled LI, knocking out power to more than 90 percent of the 1.1 million homes and business that LIPA serves. LIPA came under intense pressure amid the storm’s aftermath from local and state officials, including Cuomo, who at his state-of-the-state address in January said “the time has come to abolish LIPA. Period.”

The governor didn’t go that far Monday, nor did he call for LIPA to be privatized, which he suggested early on after the Oct. 29 storm. But he made clear that the utility’s power would be diminished considerably.

“I think the storm was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Cuomo said, joined in Albany with Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. “It is the status quo and it has failed.”

Cuomo is seeking to privatize much of the utility’s operation by transferring duties to PSEG come January, improve customer service during storm response and stabilize rates—partly by instituting a rate freeze through 2015. He’s also calling for more government oversight of the utility.

“Getting rates down is essential,” Cuomo said, “getting the cost of power down is essential.”

He decided against privatizing the LIPA altogether, noting that doing so could endanger future reimbursement from FEMA. Sandy aid has already been allocated to cover the cost of raising or relocating LIPA’s power lines so property owners don’t have to foot the bill as they continue construction of their storm-ravaged homes.

The proposal would also impact LIPA’s staff, cutting it from 90 to 20, the governor said, and would slash the number of board members from 15 to five.

Cuomo is looking to push the proposal through this legislative session, which ends at the end of June. The top leaders in the state Senate and Assembly gave no indication that they would pass the bill through their respective chambers.

Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), co-leader of the state Senate, said he “will closely review this plan,” and added that officials are moving the in “right direction.”

“I think this is a thoughtful plan that has many great ideas,” said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan). “It’s an important step in the right direction.”

Both Mangano and Bellone accepted the governor’s recommendations.

“I think we have a critical moment to be responsive to this issue,” Cuomo said.“There is no alternative because the status quo is dangerous for Long Island.”

Adam Haber has been going door to door to increase his name recognition in the Democratic primary for the Nassau County executive’s race (Spencer Rumsey).

Adam Haber is going door to door in his uphill battle to become the next Nassau County executive.

His first step is to win the Democratic primary on Sept. 10. Standing in his way is Nassau County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs, who wants to unify his party behind Tom Suozzi, the former Nassau County executive. Suozzi served eight years in Mineola before losing by 386 votes to Republican Ed Mangano, a then-county legislator, in 2009.

“I’m not part of the system,” says Haber as he strides down a sidewalk in Plainview on a sunny day last week with this reporter struggling to keep up. “I’m an outsider.”

He introduces himself to a middle-aged woman who just came home from her job in a school district, and she invites him into her living room as he explains why he is running.

“I believe that taxes are very high and services are being cut and the middle class is getting squeezed,” says Haber. “We could do better for our community. I’m a businessman. I’m also on the Roslyn School Board and I’m involved in charities. And I think I can do a better job.”

She nods appreciatively as he continues. “I own restaurants, commercial real estate, incubator start-ups. I’ve been in finance over 20 years. I know how to balance budgets and make payroll.”

This resident, a registered Democrat, supported Suozzi in the past, but she is open to persuasion, enjoying their banter as they discuss the deplorable state of the county.

“Nassau County has the highest debt of the 57 counties in New York State: $3 billion plus,” he claims. Then, in response to her comment about the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the state-appointed fiscal watchdog, Haber exclaims,“We’re the 12th richest county in the country and we have an oversight committee! It’s embarrassing!”

In a serious vein, he tells her that he wants to restore fiscal sanity to the county without pandering or spewing rhetoric.

“No one is going to lower your taxes!” Haber says in earnest. “But to stop the progression of them going up, you look for savings in the infrastructure. And there’s a lot you can do—and a lot we don’t do—in Nassau….

“We had Suozzi,” he says. “I’m not going to disparage him because he’s not here to defend himself. But he had eight years. Mangano’s had four years. And [their predecessor, Republican Tom] Gulotta’s had…I don’t know how many years. Twenty years and nothing’s been built!”

The woman chimes in, “A hundred years of the Republican Party machine!”

“And nothing gets done in Nassau County!” says Haber. “We are losing businesses. We lost the Islanders. Social services are getting whacked.”

But Haber’s chances of winning the hearts and minds of Nassau’s Democratic voters have taken a beating as well. With Jacobs’ backing, the Nassau County Democratic Party’s Executive Committee, comprised of the vice chairs, the town and city leaders, the legislative district leaders, zone leaders and committee officers unanimously endorsed Suozzi’s repeat run by a vote of 72-0 on March 19 .

“Tom Suozzi is the candidate in this race with the vision and experience to turn our county around and stop the reckless borrowing and fiscal mismanagement of the Mangano administration,” said Jacobs in a statement. He was equally profuse in his praise of Suozzi at the Nassau County Democrats’ annual spring dinner last month at the Crest Hollow Country Club. Suozzi was the keynote speaker. Haber only stayed for cocktails and left to go campaigning.

Haber says he loves knocking on doors, which he’s been doing since he announced in February, and judging from an unscientific sampling the other day in Plainview, the feeling is shared—at least by the Democrats who greeted him at their homes.

A woman in a purple T-shirt of Alfred Hithcock’s famous profile answers the door and asks Haber a question. “You’re running against Suozzi?”

“I am,” he says with a broad smile. “He’s running against me, actually. I declared first!”

She chuckles and they engage in a conversation that ranges from the political to the personal. When it’s time to move on, he asks her, “Can I count on your support in September?” And without a moment’s hesitation, she looks him in the eye and replies, “Yes, you will!”

Before the afternoon is through, Haber has spoken with a handful of Democrats who are home when he comes calling. One woman says she’d read about him. Every resident seems to take his candidacy seriously. Haber says the response fits the pattern he sees on Sundays when he puts in three to four hours at a time: about a third are neutral, a third are “a little above neutral for me” and “a third are, like, wildly pro for me. Five percent are pro-Suozzi, and those are the people who somehow work for him or are connected to him through some kind of job that they got.”

Without the endorsements of well-known Democrats like New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, whose announcement on April 26 makes him the state’s top Democrat to back Suozzi, Haber has to have a successful ground game to be competitive.

“I plan on knocking on thousands of doors,” Haber says. “I’ve done well over a thousand already…. I usually walk very fast because the faster you walk the more doors you can knock!”

When the day began, Haber was greeting morning commuters at the Freeport train station.

“I’ve been up since six this morning,” he says. As for his Democratic opponent, Haber says, “I’ve been outworking him, clearly…because I know I’ve got to work harder!”

A satellite view of Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale.

Hip hop mogul Jay-Z was among four teams of companies that pitched their visions Thursday for the aging Nassau Coliseum property to a committee that will later pick the winning proposal.

The four ideas were split in two camps: Three groups that suggested refurbishing the 40-year-old arena versus one that wants to demolish it and build anew. All the plans reduce the number of seats from the current 16,800, which Nassau County suggested in its latest request for proposals for the infamously difficult-to-redevelop prime real estate.

“Long a victim of the Long Island ‘no,’ we are encouraged that one of the proposals today holds the key,” County Executive Ed Mangano said during the presentation hosted by his Business Advisory Council, which will decide the winner this summer.

Proposing a new arena is the Blumenfeld Development Group, which made its fourth pitch for the land since the 1970s. Refurbished coliseum plans were unveiled by New York Sports & Entertainment LLC, the Madison Square Garden

Jay-Z, right, shares a laugh with Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

Company and Jay-Z’s group, led by the Forest City Ratner Companies, which built the new Barclay’s Center and lured the Islanders from the coliseum.

“We need to create a new identity for Nassau—one that’s bold and new and fresh,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of the Barclay’s Center and the Brooklyn Nets. The surrounding property would feature a movie theater, restaurants, an exhibition hall and an outdoor amphitheater.

“Programming is really the fuel for this engine,” he said, pointing to plans to host upward of 300 events annually, including six Islanders games, 38 minor-league hockey games and 54 family events among the line up.

MSG, which was spun off from Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp. in 2010, likewise rolled out plans that included creating an “entertainment district” surrounding a refurbished arena.

“We don’t have time to pick a plan that doesn’t work,” said RXR Reality CEO Scott Rechler, who joined the MSG pitch team. He was alluding to his prior plans to redevelop the coliseum in the ambitious Lighthouse project with Islanders’ owner Charles Wang.

Wang has also reportedly been considering moving the Islanders to Brooklyn before their lease is up on their original Uniondale home in 2015—adding even more urgency to the proposal process.

Jim Johnson, who made the presentation for Bernard Shereck, CEO of New York & Sports Entertainment LLC, emphasized their Long Island roots and joked that “the Bernie’s our biggest celebrity” compared to the competition.

“Nobody can ever dispute that Long Island is a hotbed for lacrosse,” Johnson said while touting plans to bring a lacrosse team to the arena and create more space within the existing facility for an exhibition hall.

Starting off their presentation with a video of a Nassau Coliseum lookalike being demolished was Ed Blumenfeld, whose firm joined with SMG, the current Nassau Coliseum management company.

“We think we have something that will be difference and iconic to Long Island,” he said, adding that the company would buy a minor-league hockey team if it won the bid.

Jerry Goldman, the current general manager of the coliseum, expressed his support. “Long Island deserves a brand new arena, not a refurbished arena,” he said.

First responders on the scene at The Boston Marathon finish line following a pair of explosions Monday, April 15, 2013 (Courtesy of CBS).

Long Island is on high alert after twin bombings Monday at the Boston Marathon left at least three dead—reportedly including an 8-year-old boy—and more than 100 wounded.

New York State, city, Nassau and Suffolk county authorities said they are taking extra precautions while federal investigators work with Boston police on the investigation, which is still in its early stages. A number of Long Islanders were among the runners and spectators swept up in the ensuing chaos.

“We will be holding a security meeting this Wednesday with subsequent security briefings in the weeks leading up to our Long Island Marathon,” Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said of the May 3-5 races—just two weeks away. He said Nassau police “is in constant contact with the FBI and the [NYPD].”

Suffolk County Police Deputy Chief Kevin Fallon, that department’s chief spokesman, said officers are focusing on Long Island Rail Road stations, malls and sports arenas with backup from bomb-sniffing dogs.

“Patrols will include having officers exiting their vehicles and walking through the transportation facilities,” he said. “Police have no reason to believe that a similar incident will occur in Suffolk…but the department is taking precautionary measures.”

The two closely timed bombs went off about 50 yards from each other at the Boylston Street finish line shortly before 3 p.m. Police said they later found at least one undetonated explosive devise nearby and that a report of a third explosion at nearby JFK Library preliminarily appears to be an unrelated fire. The FBI has taken over the probe.

Rick DesLauriers, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Boston field office, said authorities are treating the case as a “potential terrorist investigation.” Boston police said that despite widespread news reports to the contrary, there is no suspect in custody.

Sal Nastasi, a 33-year-old Massapequa Park man who finished the 26.2-mile race in two hours and 35 minutes, was cheering on a friend at the 24-mile mark when he got word he narrowly avoided the carnage himself.

“The course cleared out and people were trying to figure out just what was going on,” Nastasi told CBS Sports Radio. “People were pretty frantic.”

Anthony Abbruscato, a 22-year-old North Babylon man who was also cheering on friends who were running the race when the bombs went off, said he was stunned by the attacks.

“There was a moment where time seemed to stand still as all of us tried to digest what was happening,” he said. “After the gravity of the situation set in, everyone began to panic and flee from the area. Phone lines were either down or busy, and everyone just felt helpless as they tried to contact friends and loved ones at the event.”

The case is a reminder that the public and law enforcement needs to remain vigilant, according to Vincent Henry, director of the Homeland Security Management Institute at Long Island University.

“From what we’ve seen it appears to have been an anti-personnel device,” he said. “Something that was designed to harm people and not buildings.”

Jeffrey Grossmann, a St. John’s University criminal justice professor in the Homeland and Corporate Security Program, said that the fact that countless cameras were aimed at the finish line could help solve the case.

“Anyone with recordings and videotapes of surveillance videos of anything that happened should contact authorities,” he said. “It may play a key role in finding out what happened.”

Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterintelligence & Terrorism, said the attackers will be brought to justice.

“Americans will not be deterred by terrorism,” he said. “We will hunt down and bring to justice the cowards responsible for today’s attack.”

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis echoed the sentiment.

“This cowardly act will not be taken in stride,” he told reporters in a Tuesday night news conference. “We will turn every rock over to find the person responsible.”

President Barack Obama addressed the nation in a brief televised statement.

“We still do not know who did this or why,” he said. “And people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts.  But make no mistake—we will get to the bottom of this. And we will find out who did this; we’ll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.”

Nassau County jail was ordered to enact a long-overdue oversight panel.

Long Island’s county jails have been shackled by a string of legal setbacks in the past month as a new $185 million correctional center opens in Suffolk County.

Five female ex-inmates at Suffolk jail in Riverhead filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against a corrections officer and, in a separate case, a judge consolidated claims by more than 100 inmates into a class-action suit alleging conditions there are deplorable. Nassau County jail also got bad news when New York State criticized the East Meadow facility for failing to prevent a former soldier from committing suicide and a judge ordered the county to implement an oversight panel that had been neglected by the past three county executives.

“None of it is surprising at all,” said Barbara Allan, founder of Prison Families Anonymous, a Long Island-based inmate advocacy group. “They both leave a lot to be desired,” she said of the jails on either side of the county line.

The developments come after Nassau County jail had seven inmate deaths in two years, including five suicides—giving it one of the highest county jail suicide rates statewide—a medical death and an inmate homicide that’s still under investigation. Inmates reportedly died at Suffolk jail in February and last June.

Nassau County Jail: Suicides, Health Care Changes, Budget Cuts Prompt Calls For Oversight

The New York State Commission on Correction found that Bartholomew Ryan, a 32-year-old ex-Marine from Seaford who’d served in Iraq, was not on suicide watch despite Nassau jail knowing he needed constant mental health supervision before he hanged himself in his cell on Feb. 24, 2012.

“He received inadequate evaluation and treatment by Armor Correctional Health Care, Inc.,” the commission wrote in its partially redacted five-page report. Armor is the private firm hired by Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano to treat inmates at the jail. The agency recommended the firm and the jail retrain staffers and make Automatic External Defibrillators more easily accessible to help save inmates quicker.

Representatives for Armor referred questions to jail officials, who were not available for comment. Nassau County Attorney John Ciampoli said Nassau Sheriff Michael Sposato is “very conscientious” and that the jail’s “policies and procedures are constantly under review to make them the best that they can be.”

The explanation was little consolation to Ryan’s grieving family, which is suing the jail.

“This entity couldn’t get it together enough to actually be there to help save his life,” Thomas Ryan, the soldier’s brother, told News12 Long Island.  “How could Nassau County, one of the richest counties in the country, not have the proper training in the jail? It’s ridiculous to me that that could happen.”

The March 19 corrections commission report on Ryan was issued the same day that U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert granted class-action status for plaintiffs in 111 individual lawsuits making similar claims of grotesquely inhumane conditions at Suffolk County’s two jails. Among those allegations are broken toilets “ping-ponging” waste between cells, mold-encrusted showers, overcrowding, rodent and insect infestations and inadequate heating.

A new minimum-security jail in Yaphank was mandated by New York State to increase capacity and ease overcrowding in Riverhead, although construction has yet to begin on a second phase of the jail that’s projected to cost more than $100 million.

“For too long, county officials have been content to force people to live in degrading conditions that are unfit for a civilized society,” said Amol Sinha, director of the New York Civil Liberty Union’s Suffolk chapter. “It’s time for them to meet their moral and constitutional obligations to provide humane conditions at the jails.”

The federal suit includes inmates who were held at Suffolk’s jails in both Riverhead and Yaphank as far back as 2009—jail inmates who haven’t made bail while their trials were pending or were serving sentences of less than one year on misdemeanor convictions, as opposed to convicted felons serving prison time in an upstate penitentiary.

A Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office representative referred questions about the lawsuit to the county attorney’s office.

“We don’t comment on pending litigation,” Suffolk County Attorney Dennis Brown said. “We will review the papers and we will defend the interest of the county and its employees.”

A week after that pair of same-day developments, Acting State Supreme Court Justice James McCormack ordered Mangano to comply with a county charter provision mandating the establishment of an independent, seven-member board charged with overseeing and reforming conditions at Nassau jail—a mandate that has gone unfulfilled since 1990.

“More than 20 years after Nassau County voters overwhelmingly approved this charter amendment, there will finally be much-needed oversight at the jail,” said Jason Starr, director of the NYCLU’s Nassau chapter. The group has received hundreds of complaints from Nassau jail inmates about being deprived of medication, mental health services and the mistreatment of people with disabilities.

Nassau County Attorney John Ciampoli said the appointments will be made within the 90-day deadline that the judge set. “We’ve advised the court that a full seven appointments are now pending before the legislature from the county executive,” Ciampoli said.

Once they’re appointed, the Board of Visitors’ volunteer panelists—people with a “working knowledge of the correctional system,” mandates the amendment—will have an office at the jail as well as access to jail records, books and data.

Five days after that ruling, a quintet of women filed a federal lawsuit alleging that in 2009 and 2010 they “were subjected to sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexually degrading treatment by Sergeant Joseph Foti,” who has since retired. They also claim that he punished them when they complained about the harassment.

The Sheriff’s office also referred questions on this case to the county attorney, who could only say that he would “vigorously” defend the county.

The plaintiffs include former pre-trial detainees Sharon Watts, Tara Lucente, Michelle Atkinson, Jamie Culoso and Catherine Andres, who estimate in their lawsuit that more than 40 other women were also sexually harassed but are afraid to come forward.

“Get used to it, you’re in jail,” Corrections Officer Santa Cruz, head of security at the jail, allegedly told Watts when she complained, according to the lawsuit. They’re represented by Southold-based attorney Laura A. Solinger, who’s also seeking class-action status.

“Because these women are incarcerated, they’re literally trapped and can’t leave,” she told Newsday. “It’s unlike at a job, where you can get in you car and drive away. You’re so vulnerable there. This makes this abuse that much more intense. They have to stay where they are and see him the next day, and the next day and the next.”

Scraps of the destroyed Long Beach boardwalk will become art work.

Eight hundred pounds of Long Beach boardwalk ruble is being re-purposed as artwork to commemorate the community spirit that prevailed after Superstorm Sandy destroyed the famed seaside tourist attraction.

Nassau County officials invited local artists to join a privately funded contest with cash prizes up to $10,000 for the winner and judges deciding which work best captures the theme in six months—timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the historic storm.

“Every crisis, every storm and every natural disaster provides all of us with the ability to call upon our inner strength to begin the job of recovery,” Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said during a news conference Thursday at his Mineola office.

Second place wins $5,000, third place takes home $2,500 and honorable mentions will get $1,000 each. The prizes are funded by Lawrence Kadish, a Republican national committeeman from Old Westbury, and his wife, Susan, an artist.

The competition is open to Nassau residents of all ages. The deadline for submitted art work is Sept. 1 and the winners will be chosen on Oct. 29. All accepted submissions will be displayed at the Office of Emergency Management for approximately six months.

For more information on rules and submission forums visit the county’s website www.nassaucounty.gov or call 516-571-6000.

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano gave his fourth State of the County address at the Morrelly Homeland Security Center in Bethpage on Wednesday, March 6, 2013.

Nassau County officials are unveiling a plan Monday to proactively identify people with mental health disorders to get them treatment before they self-medicate with drugs and alcohol or turn violent.

County health officials will coordinate outreach to schools, community and religious organizations to raise awareness as well as encourage pediatricians and other primary care physicians to focus more on behavioral health.

“We hope to avoid tragedies in Nassau County that stem from a lack of access to needed behavioral health care,” said Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, dubbing it the Behavior Wellness Campaign.

As the Press has reported, Long Island’s short-staffed and under-funded substance abuse and mental health treatment providers are already bracing for a wave of new patients traumatized by Superstorm Sandy.

Mangano pointed to untreated mental illness widely believed to be motivators in recent mass murders such as the Newtown massacre.

He also quoted statistics suggesting about 50 million Americans—children and adults—experience substance abuse and underlying mental illness annually, but only 38 percent get treatment.

In addition, county health officials plan to provide mental health first aid training for school personnel and are seeking ways to expand court programs for criminals who’ve been inadequately treated for behavioral health disorders.